Subterraneous masonry structure and method of making the same



Oct. 25, 1932. s. w. STEWART SUBTERRANEOUS MASONRY STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 30, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY Oct. 25, 1932.

s. w. STEWART 1,884,347

SUBTERRANEOUS MASONRY STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 50. 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l lNVEJN-daf hun yf BY WMV ATTQRNE Oct. 25, 1932. s. w. STEWART SUBTERRANEOUS MASONRY STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Fild April 5o, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ....NQWY.

l NVENTOR ATTOR Patented Oct. 25, 1932k UNITED; srarssv SENCER W. STEWART, OFWHI-TE PLAINS, NEW YOBK,.ASSGNOR TO AMB'RSEN CON- V`vSLRUC'.lIOIN' C0., INC., OF NEW YORK, N.v Y., A CGRPGRATION 0F NEW YORK SUBTERRANEOUS MASONRY STRUCURE ANDEZETHGD OF 'MAKING THE SAME Application led April 30,' 1930. Serial Ne. gi.

'This invention vrelates to a novel and -irn- 1proved method of excavating and is particuilarlyA applicable where an excavation has to bercarri'ed down through material of such character that it is difficult to maintain the Sides of ythe excavation and prevent them from cavingin.- The invention also includes the structure placed in the excavation. In the past it has kbeen customary to employ expensive bracing caisson work and there have been times when no caisson Work would retain the sides of the excavation. One of the objects yof my invention is therefore to .devise a method which is relatively inexpensive as compared to prior art practice and which may be usedwwithfsubstantially all `known materials through which excavatio has 'to be carried. e

A further object of my invention is to provide a method by means of which water .draining into the excavation may be handled jinl an expeditious way without interfering with vthe work of excavating and the work of placingthe foundation.

The invention also contemplates a way in which grouting may be conveniently combined With other features of the invention.

Vhile I have: named above some of the principal objects of the invention, it is to be understood that these are notI exhaustive, as other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a study of the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which I |have shown the way in which my invention may be practiced with one-type of structure and in which Fig. l is a longitudinal vertical section vthrough a cut-ofi wall ofa dam showing howv my invention may be practiced in connection with the excavation for, and the building of, this wall.

Fig. 2 is a section taken at rightangles to that'of Fig. 1 andfurther illust-rating the possibilities of myinvention.

y Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a' portion of a cut-off wall excavation in progress of being made. A' y Fig. 4 is a cross section through a dam having a cut-off wall completed. i

Fig. 5 is a vertical section through a subtcrraneeus wall showing another way in which the invention can be practiced, and taken on' the line 5 5 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5.

This invention maybe employed in any place-where itis desired to place masonry in the Ground, but for purposes of illustra-y tion only I have shown, and shalldescribe, a cut-oli1 wall of a darn, it being understod that the steps described in connection with the building of such. a wall may be equally well practicedwith any other kind of structure involving worlr of this type jand whichis generally termed foundation work.

Referring' now'to the drawings and particularly to Fig. l, I have shown therein a proiile of'a dam site and more particularly the parts thereof where the cut-ofi. wall is to beplaced. At the opposite ends of thisiiigure rthe lines l indicate the surface to which excavation has been made and upon which the curtain wall has been placed, these portions supplyingY suitable material to support they wall.

The dash line 2`at 4the bottom of the figure'indicates the continuation of the Y lines l, or, in other words, the surfacev to which excavation'is to be made and the full line 3 above the line 2 indicat'esthe surface to which excavation has been made at the time of the total area to be excavated. For example, loeking at Fig. 3, the area on which excavation is started may comprise that 1ndicated at 5, or, if desired, a greater area,

such as that indicated at 6. The excavation maybe carried on simultaneously at several sections, preferably spaced along the length of the area to be excavated.

As best shown in Fig. 2, the sides of the excavation are preferably tapered or wedgeshaped, as indicated at 7. After the excavation has been carried to a depth such that the continued maintenance of the sides becomes diiiicult, work on the excavating is suspended and concrete or other masonry is placed in the excavation, suitable forms being used to maintain a shaft the sides of which are indicated at 8. The masonry 9 is poured between the forms and thewalls of the excavation or the walls formed by adjoining sections of masonry in case other sections have been filled hitherto. In the masonry is placed reinforcing l in the form of vertically extending rods having hooks ll at their lower ends. In placing the concrete preferably I follow the practice indicated in Fig. l of placing at the bottom of the excavation a quantity of easily removable material l2 upon. which the concrete is placed and into which the hooks ll may be easily forced. After the concrete or .other masonry has become set, the Work may continue by further excavation at the bottom `of the shaft, the excavation starting, of course,

Vwith the removal of the previously placed material l2, and after this material is removed the excavation proceeds until once more it becomes difficult to maintain the walls from caving in and then another section 13 of Inasonry is put in place, still maintaining a shaft through the center of the masonry. This secondV section also carries reinforcing and the rods forming this reinforcing are preferably secured to the reinforcing in the section abc-ve and this may be conveniently done by having hoolzs which engage the depending hoolrs ll. Il] ith this arrangement the reinforcing helps to support the lower section, although the wallsof the excavation are preferably also flared, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to provide a wedging action by means of which the section is supported from the walls of the excavation, even without help from the reinforcing. In like manner each section is put in place beneath the section above it and finds a support on the walls of the excavation and it will be obvious that very little, if any, bracing is required. The amount of bracing will of course depend upon the nature of the material being excavated, but the total amount is negligible compared to what would be necessary in carrying the excavation down to its full depth before placing masonry therein, as is the common practice to-day.

After one shaft has been carried down to the bottom of the finished excavation, the shaft may be filled with concrete, if desired, thus presenting a solid, substantially monolithic structure.v

rlhe above method may be followed next by excavating other sections, for example, those between sections already excavated and concreted, the adjoining sections being preferably tied together by suitable joints 14:, as shown in Fig. l.

rlhe above method and the resulting wall or other structure have many advantages which will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, in excavating under present practice it is often the case that the complete excavation cannot be made and the masonry placed between times of maximum flood flows. Consequently the excavation is flooded before completion of the structure and this involves costly pumping and oftentimes serious dainage to the structure. By the practice of my invention the excavation is made and the structure in the excavation completed almost simultaneously, with the exception of the shafts and even if a shaft itself is flooded the walls of the excavation are protected and by proper arrangement of schedules it would usually be possible to complete certain sections of the finished structure between times of liood so as to minimize the amount of pumping necessary. If a shaft is not hlled before flood-time, it may be temporarily plugged or otherwise covered until the flood recedes. A

Another feature of importance is the handling of water curing excavation and c ncreting. The shaft furnishes a convenient means for running to the bottom of the excavation a pipe l5 by means of which a pump lo may remove the water from the bottom of the shaft while work is progressing.

In excavating water bearing material is often encountered and this produces hydrostatic pressure on the side walls or bracing, if such be used. According to my invention, however, the concrete when put in place may be provided with suitable reinforcing suflicient to talie care of any stress which may be placed upon it and this stress may be greatly reduced by means of branch drainage pipes 17 connected to the pipe 15, as best shown in Fig. l. As shown in Fig. 2, water from a water bearing plane of cleavage 18 may bo dr ined into a vbox 19 and rthus carried through the pipe tothe surface. These pipes 17 may also collect water from all other points where there is water bearing material and of course the pipe l5 removes the water from the bottom of the excavation, in which is provided a sump 20 to which all water reaching the bottom of the excavation is carried.

It will be noted from the above arrangement that the cost of pumping is reduced to a minimum. Instead of following the usual practice of carrying all water from the excavation to the bottom and there collecting it in the sump and pumping it to the top, according' to my invention the water is pumped to the tcp substantially from the place where it is found, thus avoiding the necessity of lifting it all from the bottom. The difference in pumping head is substanloo tial, particularlyl in an excavation ofany ings between the different sections@ There Awill` also vbe a slight shrinkage away from the walls of the excavation and there will `berspacf-is left between Ithe masonry and the tops of pockets-of soft material which may be excavated. These Spaces may beconvenientlyilled by using the lateral pipes 17 for grouting,after the excavation vis completed and before the shaft is filled. In fact, if necessary, the pipe system may be left entirely in place and used for pumping, if

desired, if not used for grouting. In other words, the arrangement is a flexible one lending itself to use to meet the varying conditionsy which are of course always arising in Work of lthis character.

Another feature of importance in connection with my invention is the fact that in` making an excavation if pockets of soft material, as indicated at 2l, are reached it isV possible to extend the excavation sidewise yto a place where proper bearing vmaterial is obtained. Under present practice it is necessary to break through the sides of the sheet- 'ingor other protection and excavating this material with not only great difficulty, but

oftentimes great danger to the workman and to the structure itself. `This difficulty and danger is increased if the soft material is alsoy water bearing. f

By providing the easily removable material l2 beneath a section which is being completed it is possible for a Workman to 4very quickly obtain a suitable Working space art the bottom of a shaft. The dimensions of ashaft or well under some conditionsmight make the attainment of an easy Working space below itvery diiiicult without the provision of this material.

.In Fig. l I have indicated 'two sections at the left of this guie as corresponding to the sections 9.and 13 of Fig. 2, and I have also indicated lines 4 separating not only these sections, but vother sections in the finished shafts. The Work may be carried on as shown in Fig. 3 in sections, each containing one shaft or a plurality of shafts', all as may be found most expedient for the `particular job. i VVhil'e, as stated above,.the invention may be used in connection With any subterraneous work, it has been found particularly adapted for use in building cut-off walls for dams and in Fig. 4 I have indicated a dam 22 having on its upstream side a cut-oifwall 23 connected to the dam by a slab 24 of concrete extending upstream from the dam.

In the form shown this dam is of the Well known Ambursen type, although the invenlithic structure, nevertheless if found desirable one or more shafts may be left permanenti ooe-n so to rovide *access tocertain parts of the interior'of the foundation.

This again will ofcourse depend upon the conditions surrounding each particular job. Iii-the above description I have set forth one way in which the invention may be used to build a cut-off wall, and now I shall describe a way in which a similarstructure may be built by another method employing the principles of the invention. ed is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, and referring thereto, I have indicated at 25 a river beneath whose bed vit is desired to build a cut-off wall. t often'happens in such situations that it is diiiicult if not impossible to build a cut-ofi' wall by ordinary methods or by working downwardly from the bed of the river. Again, it may be desired to deepen a cut-off wall already in place. In either of the above situations my invention finds utility, as wel in others which will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

`Assuming the line 26 to represent the profile to which excavation is to be carried, and that it is imi racticable to unwater I may proceedby sinking shafts at 7 and 28 onv opposite banks of the stream.. rIhese shafts may be carried down in the usual manner or in the way described above. In order to illustrate the several ways in 'which the yinvention maybe used, I have shown the shaft 27 as being excavated to the full depth of the profile, while the shaft 28 is shown ras being carried down only a relativelyy short distance.

If two shafts are used, adits are run under vthe river until they meet to form a continuous tunnel from one shaft to the other. The walls of this tunnei are sloped as shown in Fig. 5, and the tunnel is then filled with concrete, which will be supported from the walls of the tunnel, as shown at 29 in Fig. 6.V Then we have one horizontal layer 30 ofthe `wall in place. The next step is to work inwardly from the shafts along this layer, and this 'may be done on both the topand bottom of ed'froin the sides of the excavation as they are built, until the entire wall is completed. Suitable joints 35 may be provided between adJacent layers, these being shown as over- This methi the site,

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lapping projections, although other forms such as reinforcing may be used, for exam ple, as shown in Fig. 2. Each layer is supported from the sides of the adit in which it is placed.

A similar procedure may be followed using only one shaft. lhen this is done, an adit is run laterally from a shaft and filled with concrete to form a layer of the wall, as indicated at 36. rI`his adit illustrates one advantage of this invention, which is that the excavation may conveniently be made to follow a poclet or seam of poor material, 1n this case this pocket being indicated at 37. In connection with this layer I have shown another feature which may be used with any and all layers of the wall, and that is the use of grouting pipes 3S, which may be used in the first instance for drain pipes and then to great the joints between the wall layers.

Beneath the layer 36 I have shown a second layer 39 in place and keyed to the layer 36, and adits el() and ll above and below these two layers, these adits being shown as in the course of being excavated. These adits, as Well as all others referred to herein, may be excavated by broaching or by other known methods, and each layer of the wall which fills an adit after it is constructed is likewise supported from the sides of the adit. In the adit al I have shown drain pipes connected to a vertical pipe l2 provided with a pump i3 for forcing water to the top. After these pipes have served their purpose as drains, they may be used as grout pipes, as described above.

Thus it will be seen that a wall may be built by working from several different levels, either from one shaft or a plurality of shafts.

If desired, the shaft may be excavated to the full depth of the wall and then an adit dug and lled with concrete on the bottom of the profile, as shown at 4st. The wall may then be built upwardly by the excavation and filling of successive adits. Here I have shown reinforcing rods l5 provided with hoolrs to engage hooks on rods in adjoining layers in order to tie them together, and it is to be understood that a similar arrangement may be used between all adjoining layers where desirable. Here too I have shown a pipe 38 which may be used in this instance as a grout pipe only, being provided with short branches 38 extending to the joint between layers. Similar branches are of course used with the other pipes 38 after they have ceased to be used as drains and are to be used for grouting. A. sump 46 may be maintained at the bottom of the shaft as the work progresses.

A subterraneous structure may be built according to this invention with relative ease as compared to prior methods, and in building it difficulties may be more easily overcome as they arise. For example, as noted above, soft pockets or seams may be followed and excavated as far as may be necessary. Often soluble material is encountered, and by this method such material which has caused failures of dams, may be removed. The work may be carried on simultaneously from different levels, if desirable, thus greatly expediting procedure.

While the material may be removed from the shafts in any manner, I have illustrated buckets 47 for lifting the material, it being understood that these are merely exemplary of any suitable hoisting apparatus.

I claim:

l. The method of excavating, which comprises removing material to form an excavation, placing in the bottom of the excavation easily removable material, building in the excavation a section of a shaft with its bottom disposed adjacent said easily removable material, supporting said section from the walls of the excavation, removing said easily removable material through said shaft, excavating further material beneath said section and placing another section of the shaft in the excavation beneath said first section.

2. The method of building a subterraneous structure which comprises forming an excavation, filling the excavation with masonry in wedge form, supporting the masonry by its wedge action against the walls of the excavation, excavating beneath said masonry, and depositing more masonry in the excavation beneath the first masonry.

3. The method of building a subterraneous structure which comprises forming an excavation wider at its top than at its bottom, filling the excavation with masonry to form a horizontal layer of the structure, forming a second excavation beneath said layer, and depositing a second layer in said second excavation. Y

ll. The method of building a subterraneous structure which comprises sinking a shaft, excavating an adit running from said shaft, with the top of the adit wider than its bottom, filling said adit with masonry to form a horizontal layer of said structure, excavating a second adit beneath the first one, and inserting masonry in said second adit.

5. The method of building a subterraneous structure which comprises sinking a shaft, excavating an adit running from said shaft, with the top of the adit wider than its bottom, filling said adit with masonry to form a horizontal layer of said structure, excavating other adits of similar form above and below said first adit, and filling said other adits with masonry to form other layers of the structure.

G. T he method of building a subterraneous structure which comprises sinking a shaft, running adits from said shaft at a plurality of levels, with each adit wider at its top than at its bottom, filling said adits to form spaced layers of the structure, and closing the spaces between said layers by excavating and filling successive adits, beginning at said layers.

7 A subterraneous masonry structure com prising a plurality of contacting sections one beneath the other, with the top of each sec tion extending outwardly further than the bottom of the superj acent section and further than the bottom of the same section and in contact with the material adjoining the superstructure.

8. Asubterraneous masonry structure comprising a plurality of sections one beneath the other, with a portion of each section above its bottom extending outwardly into the ma# terial adjacent the structure a distance further than said bottom and further than the bottom of the superjacent section to form a wedge contacting with said material.

9. A subterraneous masonry structure com` t prising a plurality of sections one beneath the other, with a portion of each section above its bottom extending outwardly intol the material adjacent the structure a distancefurther than said bottom and further than the bottom of the superjacent section to form a wedge contacting with said material, said sections having a shafty running vertically therethrough. l

10. A subterraneous masonry structure comprising a plurality of sections one beneath the other, with a portion of each section above its bottom extending outwardly into-the material adjacent the structure a distance further than said bottom land further than the bottom of the superjacent section to form ar wedge contacting with said material, said .sections having a shaft running vertically therethrough and filled with masonry.

11'. The method of building a subterraneous structure, which comprises forming an excavation, filling the excavation with masonry in wedge form, supporting the masonry by its wedge action against the walls of the excavation, excavating beneath said masonry 5 and outwardly beyond the bottom thereof to formL a wedge-shaped excavation, and depositing more masonry 1n said wedge-shaped excavation.

SPENCER W. STEWART. 

